Archives for April 2014

When you first start selling your art, you want to legitimize the business so badly. And you’re seeing all these other artists and trying to mimic what they’re doing so you start strong. One of the things that inevitably comes up is what name you will do business under.

And we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to pick just-the-right name.

For good reason, honestly. It’s really obnoxious to change your name down the line. There’s paperwork to be filed, your logo has to be changed, you’ve got to update your bank and the info on all your online accounts…

But while it’s really important, it’s also stopping you from the big stuff. The game changers. So, in a way, it’s just not worth the trouble. How do I know? Because I went through the same thing!

When I started my first business, selling handmade jewelry, I spent hours upon hours dreaming up clever names. I wanted to match those successful Etsy sellers I had seen with names like Honey & Wood or Pantheon Studios – they had such a nice ring to them and they looked so professional!

And I finally settled on a not-so-great choice, Rame Ottone. I thought it sounded mysterious, but it just means Copper Brass in Italian. Then I created a logo which also wasn’t quite as fantastic as I initially thought. And after all that work, I was left staring a long list of much more daunting tasks that I had yet to touch. Things like pricing, identifying my target market, and running the numbers necessary to create a basic business plan.

And that was totally terrifying.

Now that I’m in hindsight-mode, I can see clearly what I should have done: tackled my target market before picking a business name or just using my own name and changing it later if I decided to down the road.

So if you’re in that uncomfortable stage, choosing a name for your business, or if you realize you haven’t done one of those three daunting tasks I mentioned – it’s time to get moving. Because you can’t make money until you’ve got that business name. And you won’t make good money until you’ve tackled the daunting tasks.

To find out how to tackle those daunting tasks, stay tuned for next week’s post on making big, scary projects feel completely doable.

Commissioned art can be the most lucrative aspect of your art business if you design it that way. But if you’ve yet to get a custom order and want to test the waters first (highly recommended to make sure you like creating with someone else leading your way), I’ve got a few tips for you.

1. Get noticed.
This is all about making yourself visible. So in the online realm, you want to have your work on every website you can. Set up accounts on Flickr, Tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook, DeviantArt, Etsy, etc etc. Put your best work up in as many places as possible. While no one site will bring you lots of attention (probably), adding them all together can.

Offline, you want to be telling everyone what you do. Get out of your shell and just suck it up and say, “Hi there, I like your scarf.” And see if you can turn the conversation to your careers and let them know what you do. You’d be surprised how many people are excited about it. That being said, some people are going to ask if you teach or if you can paint their cat (when actually you paint abstract landscapes). And that’s okay. Either say yes if it sounds fun or gently explain to them what you actually do and pop up a picture of your work on your cell phone.

2. Keep things fresh.
You need to keep creating and adding new work to your portfolio (and all the sites you’re on!). This is how your work evolves into something actually good. And this is what excites people who show an interest in your work. They want to be seeing a steady stream of new pieces until they find the one that’s perfect or realize you can create something just for them. And as you add new pieces, go ahead and curate out things that no longer fit. It might feel harsh, but part of being an artist is letting go of work that doesn’t truly express your vision (or even work that just doesn’t fit your brand).

3. Make contact easy.
Don’t let someone be stopped by something as simple as not being able to get in touch with you. Have your email, and ideally your phone number too, readily available on your website and any social media accounts you have. If you can set up a contact form, do that too so people who want to just send it straight from your site don’t have to open up their email account. And carry business cards with you so people can followup if they decide they are interested later. Make it super-duper easy.

4. Ask.
This is the part most people totally forget about. Or maybe they’re scared. But just start asking people. If you’re showing someone your art and they say they like it but they don’t seem like they’re ready to buy, casually mention that you also do custom pieces and ask if there’s an empty spot on their wall they’d like to fill. Or tell your most gossipy friend that you’re on the lookout for custom work and let her share it with anyone she thinks might be interested. Asking is surprisingly effective. Sometimes people just don’t know that you can make something especially for them. And some people know in the back of their mind, but it takes suggesting it to make them consider the idea for themselves.

If you’ve already had custom orders before, I’d love to hear your tips. How did you score your first commissioned piece?

So I had a long post about Sam and her blogging dilemma last week. While I don’t recommend blogging about something you don’t enjoy writing about, I never gave Sam options for blogging about other things she might enjoy writing about but doesn’t know it yet. Things she might not have tried to write about.

So this week, I want to help her make sure she knows for sure what she does and doesn’t enjoy blogging about to help her decide whether to stick with her blog as is, change the content, or toss her blog entirely.

Sam mentioned that she gets a lot of her inspiration from comic-book style visuals and has a few comic fans on her social media platforms. She asked, “How do I keep them interested in coming back to my blog over time?”

Every audience is a little different, but most people are interested in the story behind the work. As a photographer, Sam might have more story than some other artists because she’s usually out in the world when she creates her art. And the world is where the stories happen (at least the real-life ones).

I would recommend Sam try writing about how she found a particular location or object to photograph. Was she traipsing through the forest and stumbled on a particular tree trunk? Or did she ask a friend of a friend where the coolest building in town is? Maybe she takes daily walks with her camera at her side and suddenly noticed the perfect vignette through a hole in the trees? Or an interesting sidewalk crack?

Whatever the story behind discovering the subject, that’s one thing art buyers love to hear about. Statistics show that people are much more likely to purchase art when they know the thought process, meaning, or inspiration behind the work.

That leads me into showing inspiration pictures. If Sam created a piece inspired by her favorite comic book heroine, she should absolutely post a comparison photo from that comic book and talk about what drew her to create the piece. Another story.

And Sam can always write about the meaning of the piece. While it’s pretty controversial in the art world to talk about “meaning”, if Sam were a proponent of telling art buyers what her work “means” then her blog would be the place to do it. Another story.

Another thing that art buyers love is a peek behind-the-scenes. The story behind the work falls into this, but it feels even more special when it’s a look at an unfinished work, a glimpse of a messy studio space, or pictures of your favorite supply store. Another story.

Showing you’re human is another great way to woo an art buyer. When people buy something they know is created by another’s hand, they are looking for human connection. They’re buying a photograph from Sam instead of buying some stock image of the Eiffel Tower from Target. And so they want to know who Sam is, hence all these different stories. And if Sam is comfortable enough, it’s a good idea for Sam to show that it’s not all sunshine in her art world. Sometimes a piece doesn’t work out. I love when artists blog about their “failures” and pieces they can’t quite finish. And I’ve talked to many other art buyers who feel this way too. It shows how hard you have to work to get to the good pieces (which commands a higher price! art isn’t so easy you can just slap a $5 bill on the table and take it home). And it shows that you aren’t perfect, you’re human, which is exactly what an art buyer wants from the artist.